Chapter 5. Overview of Activities

• What Is a Software Development Process?

• Overview of Popular Approaches to Software Development

• Approach Used in This Book

• Overview of Major Activities

• Summary

Is software development an art or a science? The answer really depends on whom you talk to. But there is one thing about which everyone will agree: software continues to become bigger, more complex and harder to develop, and more difficult to manage.

In this chapter, we briefly explore some of the more popular approaches to software development and highlight their perceived strengths and weaknesses.

This is followed by a high-level overview of the approach we have chosen to follow for this book. The idea is to provide you with a roadmap for the rest of the book.